


Little Witch

by Conservatoria



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, F/F, F/M, Humanstuck, Jade is a witch, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-09
Updated: 2015-02-25
Packaged: 2018-02-03 21:33:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1757555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Conservatoria/pseuds/Conservatoria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>”You can't still be mad at me for that, that was years ago! Also I <i>did</i> try to reverse the spell.” You said with a pout on your face, arms crossed.</p><p>”Keyword: <i>Try</i>.” The black cat answered from the top of your shelf. </p><p>Okay, so maybe your spell had backfired a little more than you cared to admit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You put the box down on the floor before stepping back to admire your work. That should be the last of it! All of your things are, granted, still in boxes but at least the boxes are _in_ your new house now ready to be unpacked. You have a feeling that you're going to like living here.

Oh, maybe you should introduce yourself. 

Your name is Jade Harley and you just moved in here! It's a small house but it's good enough for you. It's also a little far away from other houses in the town but you're fine with that too. You like a little bit of privacy. You have all you need to be satisfied here. A kitchen, livingroom, a bedroom, a garden for your herbs, a room for your hobbies and then an extra room for your companion.

Now that you mention it, you quickly notice your cat jumping onto to the dinner table. His fur is black as a raven, and his sapphire eyes almost glow due to the light coming from the windows.   
You admit that he's a really beautiful cat, lean and graceful. You adore your cat, but mostly because he's also your friend. 

“So why did we move here again?” the cat asks. 

Oh. Yeah, by the way did you mention that you're a witch? And that your cat can talk. Because he's not actually a real cat. Or well he looks like one! But in reality he's both a cat and a human. It's kind of hard to explain. Or maybe not, you just don't want to get into that specific story right this moment. 

You sigh a little bit as you look back into the blue eyes staring intensely at you from the table. 

“I told you John. Someone almost figured out that I'm a witch and you know how I want that to be a secret right?” You cross your arms. It's not like you wanted to move away from the city you lived in before. You just couldn't take such a risk. You wanted to have friends, you wanted to live a normal life and if someone figured out you were a witch then that couldn't happen. You've tried that before. Several times if you count your youngest witch years. Others would start calling you a freak, they'd start joking about having to burn you except you don't really know wether they were actually joking or being serious about it. You feared the latter. 

That is the reason you're here! In your perfectly well new house! And close to the college you're attending to now. You can't wait, you've been wanting to take a new education for a few years. It gets boring being hundreds of years old you know? 

You grin at John reaching a hand out to rub the fur behind his ears which he reluctantly enjoys. You then return to opening one of your boxes.

“Well, do you care to help me unpack? You need to unpack your own stuff too!” The next time you're looking towards John he's not a cat anymore. Instead there's a young man sitting on the dinner table black hair so wild you wouldn't believe that he'd have such a smooth fur when he was in cat form. Black clothes cover his thin yet slightly muscled body. The intense sapphire blue eyes remain the same. 

 

He grins back at you before jumping down from the table to grab one of the boxes and lift it onto the table.

“Do you know where my glasses are??” He asks you. You just roll your eyes with a fond smile as you direct your friend to the kitchen. You had placed both of your jackets out there for now and you know he sometimes place his glasses in his pocket whenever he has to go into his cat form. He doesn't see well without glasses. But when he turns into the black cat you see so often he doesn't need them. His eyes improve a lot more which might just be one of the reasons that he doesn't mind being a cat. Your friend thanks you before hurrying into the kitchen to retrieve mentioned glasses. 

The two of you hadn't always been friends. You hated each other a lot in the beginning. Mainly because he pissed you off and you're kind of the reason that he's stuck with a cat form. 

The year was 1647 when you first met John. Yes you're that old. That's just what it's like being a part of your family. You're a pure witch one who lives for many years. You don't really mind, you're used to it but you lost a lot of friends as centuries passed. Which is why you're so happy that you have John now. 

Anyway you were young. Still practicing your spells, enchantments and whatever you had learned. John was 19 back then. Normal human. However rumors about you being a witch had gotten out and John had been a tad too curious. Also you now know that he had always been fond of pranking others. He had planned to prank you that year and it soon turned out to be his biggest regret. 

You didn't mean to do it. You didn't mean to turn him into a cat. But his so called prank had ruined your garden. All your herbs were gone and several preparations for rituals you were still practicing were ruined completely. You were so mad. You were angry and John was alone and no one was there to stop you from casting a spell on him. Or rather a curse. It was a curse you saw in one of your magic books once. Black magic. Which you weren't really supposed to be using. But the spell seemed to be innocent enough. It would just turn him into a cat after all, no big deal right?? 

Of course John was freaked out when he turned. He almost ran away if you hadn't caught him. A few minutes later you realized what you had done. You took him into your home telling him that you'd turn him back into a human again. You didn't wish for him to be a cat forever. You just wanted to teach him a lesson for being so reckless! And a lesson he got. (He's not less of a prankster now even to this day.) You learned your lesson that day as well. Don't touch curses. Unless they're really _really_ necessary. 

But no matter how hard you tried you just couldn't reverse that spell. John was hissing at your 5th failed attempt to make him human again. The spell was of black magic and even though you're a powerful witch you just didn't have the power to turn him back. You weren't skilled enough. What you _did_ manage to do though was to change the spell enough for him to be a bit of both. He could talk in cat form and he could change back into his human form. However there was certain complications in that solution, mainly him still having a few cat instincts in human form. Mindlessly meowing once in a while. It was pretty cute. John didn't think so. What you find most hilarious even to this day is when he can't control it. Sometimes when emotions get to him, or if he's in some sort of situation, he'll accidentally turn into a cat or back into a human. It causes a bit of a mess for him. 

The curse didn't just turn him into a cat though. It gave him a little bit of magical power though nowhere near as strong as yours. It also meant that he could live longer. Which is why he's still with you today. When you think back on it like this, you're actually happy about your little incident. But the first few weeks as you tried to help his situation it was plain hell. You'd yell, he'd hiss and scratch at you (even though it kind of was his own fault for messing with you!) Eventually you warmed up to eachother as you gave him a chance and he got to know you. You turned out to become great friends. You even taught John some magic spells and he spent some time researching magic on his own.

As the centuries passed he learned to control the form changing more. However he still has his problems at specific situations. And you're still trying to keep your witch powers a secret, which is why he lives with you at all times. You two help eachother. Granted, he can't go to school even though he'd love to get an education to become a doctor. But since the first time he entered a school you figured out it wasn't a good idea. Sometimes he couldn't control his curse and he randomly turned into a cat in the school hallway. Luckily no one really paid attention (you think) but you both decided that it was pretty risky. John didn't really wish to explain about his situation either. 

So instead of going to school he helps you out with paying for your house and food by working. He managed to get a job at the local pet shop downtown. Which was perfect since he didn't have to work for that many hours and he'd often be alone in the shop just in case something would happen. And luckily for him being part cat made it easier for him to communicate with the animals at the shop even though he doesn't like the birds. As long as he doesn't start eating them, everything should be just fine!

John comes back into the living room soon enough, glasses placed on his face.

“Alright, I'm ready to pack out now.”

Packing out takes a long time mostly because you and John can't stop fooling around. You keep finding old stuff of yours that keep distracting you and you laugh through the whole day. You're only completely serious when it comes to your magic books and other witch items which you will lock into the smallest room of the house. And you don't even allow John to touch the stuff you need to grow your new garden for your herbs. You will take care of that yourself, you don't trust others enough to do it right. Growing a new garden will take some time but luckily being a witch has its perks. You have some tricks up your sleeve and you know how to make it all grow faster than what it usually would take. 

A week later everything is unpacked and you can finally relax completely. Which you really appreciate since school starts up about a week from now on and you want to take that time to just relax before having to deal with classes and homework. Not because any of that is hard, also you're really interested in your classes. Mostly botany classes which you have for obvious reasons. It's never too late to learn new things, even though normal people don't always know the full extend in which plants can be used. 

Oh and your garden is coming along nicely too. Everything is planted in order so you know exactly where to find what herb when you need to use it. It's perfect! In one side of your garden you have the plants that grow best in the light of day. And in the other side you have your moon garden, where you take care of your plants according to the moon. Some of these plants are very useful to your spells and rituals. Gosh you adore your garden. You just need to keep John away from it but you're pretty sure that since he got turned into a cat, he got the hint to leave your garden alone or at least so you'd think. You still find him trying to mess it up a bit, just because he finds your reaction funny. Damned cat. 

What makes your garden even greater is the small tiny river running in the back of your yard, small waterfalls creating a soothing sound. You close your eyes as you sit in the grass having planted just the last of your plants. It's relaxing to you just sitting in your beloved garden like this, listening to the nature. You finished up just in the right time of the month as well, the moon cycle perfect for planting your garden. You feel calm as ever.

Until John slams into your shoulder as he sits down beside you wanting attention from you. You hadn't even heard him coming out into the garden since he's pretty stealhy. It comes from the whole cat thing, John moves around so quietly no one ever hears him. 

You just smile widely at him and turn your upper body slightly to give him what he wants. Honestly, your friend is the most nerdy kid to ever have excisted and you love him dearly but sometimes he was just ridiculous, rubbing his head on your shoulder just like a cat did. Silly instincts. 

“What is it John??” you laugh a little, before running a hand through his soft black locks. He likes that he can't even deny it. 

“I'm boooooooored.” he says as he leans against your side. You laugh and press your hands against his shoulder in an attempt to push him off you, but it's hard when you're laughing at him like this.

“John, get off! You're heavy!” He doesn't budge. “Ugh John, come on you're being a prick!” 

“But I'm bored.” He repeats and you manage to push him off you roughly with an added kick to his side sending him to the ground beside you. You look down at him and smile victoriously.

“Go play on your keyboard or something, I was just enjoying some nice peace in my garden and see what you've done, you've ruined it all. I hope you're proud of yourself John Egbert!” you can't help but grin at him, all serious tone to your sentence lost. This stupid male makes you smile all the time, and you can't ever be mad at him for long. He's your best friend and you practically consider eachother siblings. You watch him as he pathetically rolls on the grass. He soon starts breaking into laughter himself because he's perfectly aware of how stupid he's being. 

“Already did that, and I'm out of options now.” he whines but the effect is ruined by his laughter occasinally leaking through his words. You roll your eyes as you shake your head and turn towards him completely. You place your feet at his side and kick at him effectively turning him onto his stomach. 

“Pull yourself together, go out and see the city, check out your new workplace, get friends or even worse, you could sit down peacefully by my side and listen to nature with me!” he makes a disgusted face by that clearly stating his opinion on the “peacefully listening to the nature with you” thing. Such a shame when the weather is as great as this and if he would start getting too warm in the sun, he could always move into the shadows of the trees in your garden. 

“There's no fun in that!” you knew he'd reply like that.

“Come on, it's really not that bad, nature is a lovable thing!” his face and ruffled hair looks absolutely ridiculous as he sits back up and sticks his tounge out at you. His expression clearly says “ew nature” of course. He doesn't really mind nature, every once in a while he likes to go into cat form just to roam the streets, jumping from place to place just enjoying being outside, however when it comes to just sitting down then it gets boring and of course John can't handle being bored. 

“It really _is_ that bad though.” he sais. You groan a bit, knowing that there's no way for you to convince him otherwise cause he already made up his mind. It's boring, fine you get it. 

“Then just get out of here already, no need for you to sit and disturb _me_!” 

“But Jaaaaaaaaade, I want to do something with you. Also it's getting late and we're out of groceries.” 

“You're the one who cooks though!”

“And I can't cook without groceries, I can't carry it all, come on Jade I'm weak!” he starts the whining tone again.

You both know that John is everything but weak. He doesn't exactly look like it but he's stronger than what people seem to think. He's just a few inches taller than you and pretty skinny, but there's definitly muscles on him. His arms and legs gets trained as well when he runs around town in cat form. You're both perfectly aware that he can go get groceries himself.

“You're so pathetic.” you laugh at him and he rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, okay maybe I am. But seriously we need to buy stuff.” he seems to think about his words for a while before changing his mind.

“On the other hand I don't feel like cooking something tonight, so can't we just like.. go out and get something?” 

“We still need to buy groceries then.” you say with a faint smile on your lips as you cross your arms. He groans like it's the hardest task ever, which confuses you since he's the one who said you needed to go get it. Possibly it's just because he's starting to realize that you don't want to move from your garden right this moment and probably have to leave to get it himself anyway. 

“Why are you so evil Jade answer me that.”

“I'm wicked, beware of my curses John.” he frowns at the way you say that sentence.

“Don't even joke with that, I've had enough of your curses to last me a lifetime.” literally. The curse you accidentally cast on him does make him grow almost as old as a witch. 

It's why witches are often seen with cats or ravens in fairytales and myths. After John's transformation you learned that the curse you used was used by black magic witches as a form of revenge on humans who had bothered them. When they turned into either a cat or raven or whatever they wanted, witches kept them as pets or so called 'familiars' to help them with their witchery. Which is also why the curse increased John's lifespan. 

You cringe as the memories are brought up again.

“I said I was sorry..” he laughs beside you, wrapping an arm around your shoulder.

“I know, you tell me every hundred of years. It's okay Jade it's not as bad as I thought it would have been. And I have a friend for a lifetime right?” you know he's annoyed because of the sudden cat transformations that happens once in a while. But you also know that he doesn't really mind the cat thing much. In fact sometimes he even use it to prank strangers on the street, insulting people that pass him and then pretending to be an ordinary cat. You're not surprised that he gets a kick out of the confused expression people get when they realise no one else but a cat is around.   
You smile at John as he assures you that it's okay. You never completely got over your mistake even though it's roughly 400 years ago it happened. Boy that's a long time. You're just happy that you still look like one who is 19 years old and you're sure that John appreciates his young appearance as well.

“Anyway how about you just take a run through the city, get to know the area a little more so I can sit and watch my garden in peace for a little while longer. And when you're done we can go out and buy some food and get some groceries on our way back yes?” 

He acts like he's thinking it through for a long time before just smiling mischievously. Oh god, don't say that you have to _force_ him to get going!

Apparently you have to because John neither agrees nor moves from his position on the ground causing you to sigh deeply. 

“Come on John just go already and come back in a few hours okay?” you move the hand closest to him into his hair, and right behind one of his ears and start scratching ever so slowly. He tenses up a little bit as you continues, before he moves away a little.

“What are you-” he doesn't reach to finish his question before you have launched yourself on him, so you can continue to scratch that specific spot. After living with him for years you've learned a few tricks. Mainly that he turns into a cat if you scratch long enough in this specific place.

“Jade, no, stop, fine I'll get going just don't-” before he can protest further he has already turned into a small cat in a comical 'poof', and you pull your hand back.

“How about 5pm does that sound good enough for you?” you chuckle innocently as you can see the utter loathing expression he gives you, pupils in the blue eyes completely constricted.

“Little witch!” he hisses before running out to the street.

Indeed that is what you are.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, a lot of things is happening, and I'll try and get this up running again!
> 
> Ugh the chapter is shorter than I wanted it to be. Apologies!

“Finally decided to show up for studying hm?”

“Fuck you Lalonde.” you responded without even looking at her smug smile which you knew perfectly well was plastered on her face. The blonde woman sitting across the table you had just sat down by didn't show any hint of having been insulted, in fact she just looked even more smug. Ugh, why did you come here again??

Right, so your name is Dave Strider by the way. You feel like that's a pretty important thing to point out by now. 

The woman sitting before you is Rose Lalonde. Long time childhood friend and awarded professional asshole 101. The two of you are currently sitting in the library, studying for a project due next week. You were, of course, late. Not that you overslept or anything, you just really _really_ didn't want to go this early in the morning. Otherwise you're never late. It's almost like you always know what time it is, and this time it was no different. It was 11.30am and okay maybe it wasn't so early in the morning as you had first claimed it to be. 

“You were supposed to be here 30 minutes ago Dave. I am severely disappointed in you. To keep a lady waiting like this.” she proceeded to turn her attention to the book lying open in front of her. You only scoff as a reply to what she said, honestly not giving a shit seeing as none of what she said was really serious anyway. 

“Well I'm here now right? Problem solved.” you say as you lean back in your chair watching her. She doesn't press further on the subject as she goes back to reading whatever random information printed in the book before her. Now, you're a shitty friend and instead of setteling with helping out with the project, you decide to just sit back and observe the library for a few minutes. You observe the other students in the room silently reading through books and tip-toeing at the shelves to reach new pieces of information they need for assignments. You should probably do the same. 

You notice one girl specifically. She's taller than most girls around your age (you guess she's about you and Rose's age as well), but she's probably not taller than you. She has long curly hair that falls gracefully down her back, and a set of round glasses perched on her nose. Her skin is tan and compliments her dark hair pretty well you notice. You admit that she's pretty. That's not the reason you're staring though, you've known for a couple of years that girls aren't really your thing. But you're not blind. However you're staring at her because no matter how pretty she may be, she looks rather ridiculous with her tounge stuck out between her lips in concentration as she jumps near a shelf to reach some book just slightly out of her reach. You silently note that it would probably be easier for her to get the book if she let go of the other 10 books in her arms. Okay, so there's only about 5 books, but they're thick and look heavy as hell. Her failed attempts at getting the book amuses you to greater lengths than studying ever would. 

Then a book is slammed open right before you and it startles you from your thoughts even though you'd never admit that. You glare at Rose from behind your shades and ignore the fact that she won't know because, hey, no one can see your eyes. Without saying a word, Rose returns to her own reading and you know perfectly well what she wants from you. Thus, you end up giving in and leaning over the book to start up studying on said project. 

You end up reading a few paragraphs before spotting the girl from before making her way towards your table and you're just about to speak up to her, before she trips over a small step and drops all of her books on the floor right next to your table. You just look down at the books, one finger raised and mouth hanging slightly open before you just decide to shut it again and say nothing at all. 

You're pretty sure you hear the girl mumble a few curses as she gets up after falling to her knees. Rose is the first to get up from the table.

“Are you alright?” she asks, politely as ever. The girl just laughs a little embarrased and waves her off.

“I'm fine, nothing happened.” at this point you have gotten up from your chair as well, bending down and collecting her books. A few of the books seems to be about plants and herbs and whatever. She looks to you a grin on her face as you hand over the books to her. She thanks you and you just nod back at her. 

“This is your first year of college as well am I right?” Rose suddenly asks. You settle with sitting back down on your chair watching the girls silently. “We have a class together if I'm not incorrect.” 

“You do seem familiar.” the brunette answers back looking deep in thought. Personally you've never seen her. Suddenly Rose snaps her hand. 

“Astronomy class.” oh, that's why you've never seen her. You don't have that kind of class. 

The girl seems to recognize Rose too and you swear her smile grows wider across her face. She seems really cheerful all of the time. Not that it's a bad thing. 

“Oh, yeah I remember now! Sorry, the year barely just started and I'm a little bad with names.” she looks apologizing at Rose.

“Rose. Rose Lalonde.” a sophisticated little smile shows on Rose's face and she reaches out a hand for the girl to shake. You quickly notice that Rose then gestures to you.

“And that ungodly thing there, is Dave Strider.” words cut deep Lalonde. You ignore Rose and nod your head at the girl in a greeting. 

“Sup.”

“Nice to meet you guys, I'm Jade Harley!” she adjust the books in her arms, the weight probably annoying her. 

“Would you like to sit down with us?” 

The girl, newly known as Jade considers this for a few seconds before nodding enthusiastically and she then makes her way on the other side of you sitting down and facing Rose. She almost slams the books onto the table, catching the attention of several other persons in the room. One of them shushes her because, yeah that was uneccesarily loud, and she mouths a sorry to the person. Rose hides her smile behind her hand and you even crack a smirk at her behavior. 

You learn that Jade is a pretty cool girl. You don't say much in between the conversation going on between her and Rose, but you contribute with a few comments and jokes, and even get some laughs out of the girls once in a while. When that happens you shush them and scold them because _Jesus girls, this is a library, show some consideration!_. Jade glares at you for that, however she can't hide the amused smile on her lips. It's rather pleasant actually, idly talking and sometimes reading. 

Jade and Rose discuss things like cats and dogs. You just sit and listen to their conversation and you learn that Jade has a cat, but is actually more fond of dogs. You then ask her why she has a cat and she explains that having a cat wasn't exactly planned, it was more like a surprise to her. She _did_ mention that she love her cat dearly though. Rose is pretty interested in hearing more seeing as she has her own cat, Mutini. Which you have to deal with as well, because you and Rose share an apartment while attending college. Honestly, cats never really caught your interest and you want nothing to do with the vile beast back at your apartment. 

All three of you end up sitting in the library for a few hours before you all decide that you have other matters to attend to. You've exchanged pesterchums and promised to meet up again soon, and you admit that you don't mind. Jade is one of the few persons who doesn't actually annoy you. You can be social when you want to, but usually you don't. You don't talk much to strangers, but your closest friends know a whole other side to you. 

You all say your goodbyes as you head off in different directions and Jade waves happily at you, shouting that she'll see you soon. 

 

_________________________________________

“They're really nice!” 

“I bet they are.” You say, amused at how happy Jade is because of her new friends. You may or may not be slightly jealous because of this fact. Mainly because you can't just go out and make friends like she does. 

Because you're a cat half of the time. Your name is John Egbert and sometimes you really hate this curse. 

You can't always control when exactly to turn into a cat. Through the years you've learned to control it just a bit but it's not enough for you to decide yourself exactly when you want to be a feline or not. Some things happen once in a while, you get embarrased, you get startled, or something else triggers the curse you've been under for several years now. Which of course means you need to be careful when out in public, or just near people who has no idea about this curse (and the only ones who know about your curse, are pretty much just Jade and her family). Which means you need to be careful all the time. People would be freaked out if you just suddenly turned into a fucking cat in front of their eyes. 

It's also why you can't attend things such as school, even though you'd really like to. The risk of the curse is too strong for you to be in public places for too long. Which is also why you have a job that only requires for you to be there a few hours. You need to make sure no one will know about this specific _thing_. 

Witch hunters aren't forgotten easily. Both you and Jade has seen many witches burned at the hands of angry mobs yelling for their execution. You know hunters aren't really a thing _now_ but you don't want to put Jade in danger. She deserves to live a life in peace. Even though it means that you need to give up most of your freedom so to say. Which sucks. But that's apparently the consequenses of destroying a witch garden for the sake of a prank, you've learned. Curiosity killed the cat they say. 

However you try to just be happy for Jade. And you think you manage to hide your jealousy because she keeps talking about the friends she made during the past week at her college. 

“I really want you to meet them!” 

What? She really means that? 

“Rose is so kind, and she's really smart! Okay, so it's kind of weird, because she seems to know everything like as if she could read your mind, and it's sort of unsetteling. I sometimes suspect that she might be a witch herself!” she laughs a little as you just listen to her words. 

“But she's really nice no doubt about it! She does everything she can to help you. Then there's Dave. Coolkid number one! Even though that's more an act than anything, I can see straight through his mask! In reality he's just a dork pretending to be a coolkid, but it's kinda adorable.” You scoff.

“He sounds kinda dumb.” 

“And he _really_ kinda is! He hides his emotions from everyone and wear shades that hides his eyes 24/7, no seriously I'm pretty sure he sleeps with those on.”

“Lame.”

“Don't be rude. Anyway despite his stupid act, Dave is a really nice guy too! He just doesn't want to admit it. Then the two of them introduced me to Karkat, and _boy_ that guy is a handful! He argues about pretty much everything, never stopping, and his vocabulary is.. colorful.” 

She continues talking about the friends she has made during the past week, and there's quite a few. A Rose, Dave, Karkat, Terezi, she briefly met a person named Feferi, Kanaya and... uhm, you can't remember all the names. That's another thing about Jade. She makes friends easily. Like she has already befriended about 6 persons within a week. You guess that comes from years of experience. 

“Anyway, I really want you to meet these guys! Of.. course we'll be careful about your.. special _condition_.” Her expression shows some clear uncertainty. She's not exactly sure what to do if you turn into a cat unexpectedly. 

“We'll make it work!”

“I'm not really sure it's a good idea..” You want to meet these persons. You really want more friends, not that Jade isn't a good friend but you need some more people to talk to every other century thanks. 

“How about just Rose and Dave for a start? I could invite them over, and before they arrive we can make sure that you're at least in human form! I'll introduce you guys, and when a few hours has passed and we feel it's too dangerous to have them around, we'll just.. say that something urgent has come up.” You know that she's worried about being exposed, but sad that she has to lie to her new friends. However that's just a thing she has to do if she wants to keep her secret.

You think it over though. She's not the only one who has felt slightly alone over the past years despite each others company. 

“If I feel the curse starting to take over, I'll leave immediately.” you caved. You swear that Jade almost squeals as she pulls you into a tight hug. 

“Next week then!!” that's going to be fun. You hope. Yeah, you really hope nothing will go wrong, you just got settled into this new house, and you want to keep it for those few years you can stay here. With Jade and you looking so young for several years it's not possible for you to stay in one place for long. Sure, looking young for centuries is pretty nice, like you're nearing your 500th birthday but you still look like one who's 20 years old. 

…

Yeah, wow, you've been living a pretty fucking long time. And even though you have youth as many people probably wish for, you and Jade can agree that it gets tirering. It's tirering moving after 10 or 20 years in one place to stay for the same amount of years in another. Friends come and go. It's hard living for this long, and there's not many witch families left to this day. You rarely encounter them. And there's definitly not many who's in the same situation as yourself. There's always Jade's cousin Jake but he travels a whole lot too. It's not a lot of company the two of you have besides each other. 

You give Jade a somewhat restrained smile, and she notices immediately. She knows you better than you want to admit. 

“Don't worry John. We'll play this out carefully. I'll invite them, pick them up, bring them here and check with you before we go inside. It'll be easy! You can always leave if you feel like you're going to turn right?”

“You know that I can also turn from being way too nervous right?” 

“I know. We... Let's just try! Come on John, I _know_ that you want other friends too. You're a pain in the ass to deal with when you get too lonely!”

“You're one to talk!” You're slightly offended.

“Hush now. Point is I know that you want to meet these persons, I can see it in your eyes!” she grins as she playfully punch your arm. It doesn't really hurt, but you pretend that it does. 

You sigh in defeat, because yeah she's right. You like having friends. You like having someone to talk to and you love Jade dearly but as mentioned before, things can get a little dull once in a while. You just really don't want to expose Jade on accident. It has happened once, maybe 100 years ago you think? You stop counting the years living for this long. But you ended up turning into a cat in front of Jade's friends and you both had to leave the town before hell broke loose. Why is everything so difficult, like hey the world has withces, why can't people just accept that! 

Okay witches weren't all good back in the days, but come on this is a modern society! 

It probably wouldn't change shit. 

“Let's try.” You tell her, and she lightens up in a way that you can barely even start to explain. 

You just hope that you won't fuck this up.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it takes so long to update. I'll try and finish them quicker.

Next week came quicker than you probably wanted to. You had felt yourself getting a little more uneasy as you got closer to friday. It's funny, because usually you're not a nervous type but today was a different matter for some reason. You don't even know why. Possibly because you and Jade are running a pretty huge risk here. 

The curse you're under is a tricky thing. It was a curse designed to curse the victim to be some sort of animal for as long as the witch lived. But thanks to Jade's grandmother you managed to change the curse so you could at least be human once in a while. At first you could only turn yourself into a human for a few hours, but over the years you've learned to control it more. But it's actually pretty exhausting focusing on keeping your human form. Which is why this is so risky. You could turn into a cat from pretty much anything that would take your attention away for too long. You guess you just really need to concentrate the next few hours. 

Jade is already on her way with Rose and Dave. She told you to stay at home (And for gods sake _relax_ John!) and you're looking at yourself in the mirror willing your mind to keep focusing. You stare at your own blue eyes, which you could swear got even bluer after being cursed. You're constantly telling yourself that you'll be fine, and if you stop thinking and just relax like Jade has told you to, then you should be just fine. You can keep your human form for a whole day if you just relax. So that's what you need to do. Stop overthinking things. Ahaha.. Yeah, no, not gonna happen.

Shit.

Deep breaths John. Nothing is gonna happen. You're going to be fine. Jade is going to bring over her friends and you're going to be friendly and smile at them and introduce yourself like a totally normal human being. They're gonna like you and you're gonna like them, and you're going to spend some nice peaceful hours together. 

And then you'll turn into a cat unexpectedly. And they're going to stare at you in shock and then they'll turn to Jade asking what the hell is wrong with her friend. And they're going to get weirded out, they'll get up and leave and Jade will be known as the fucking wicked witch of the west or whatever they'd call her. Jade will be heartbroken because she feels like she had made some pretty good friends that she lost because her magical friend couldn't keep his curse back and eventually you'll be forced to move away from this towN TOO, ABORT MISSION, YOU FEEL YOUR PANIC STARTING TO KICK IN, THIS MUSN'T HAPPEN ALERT ALERT NOTHING. IS. FINE.

 

_Poof._

The man who stared back at you from the mirror is now a black, blue eyed cat.

“ _Motherfu-_ ”

 

____________

 

Your name is Jade Harley and you haven't been this excited and nervous at the same time for a long time. 

You're going to introduce Rose and Dave to John, your long time best friend! 

This is going to be great! At least that's what it's supposed to be. You're leading your two blonde friends down the street where you and John live. You told them that you were going to be joined by a close friend of yours and that he was probably already waiting by your house. You didn't tell them anything else, you hadn't even mentioned John's name to them yet. Neither did they know that you lived together in the same home! You want them to get to know eachother by themselves. 

“I am still curious as to how you managed to get a HOUSE while attending college. Everything is so expensive.”

You turn to look at Rose with a bright grin on your face, round glasses well placed on your face. 

“Pops pulled a few strings for me, and money isn't a problem. Thanks to him and my grandma I have plenty of money to pay rent!”

“Are they rich guys, or just bankrobbers?” Dave asks and you roll your eyes, because _duh_ of course they're _bank robbers_. 

“Shut up Dave, they're not bank robbers! And well, they're not super overly famous rich, but they travel a lot and has done many remarkable things in their life. They've discovered things never seen, and they've been paid well for their jobs. Also they've had a whole lot of time for savings.” they're even older than you and your cousin, and they've spent several years saving up money for you and Jake to live for. Of course you work too and want to achieve great things so you can do the same for your future kids and grandchildren. Your grandparents mean a whole lot to you and Jake. You love them both dearly and living far away from them is hard sometimes.

“They sound wonderful.” Rose adds at the end and you nod in agreement.

“They are! Maybe you can meet them one day when they come back from travelling around in Egypt!”

“Perhaps.” You notice Rose smiling and you smile back, and soon enough you see your house. You point to the small front garden leading up to your front door, proudly showing your friends where you live.

“There! That's my home.” You turn to watch their expression, and... none of them really show any expression at all cause Dave has his usual pokerface in play and Rose is just Rose. You don't really know what you expected. 

However something's not right. John was supposed to wait outside for you! The whole _friend coming over_ thing? No? You couldn't tell Rose and Dave that this so called friend lived with you, because if things started to get hard for John he wouldn't really have an excuse to leave all of a sudden. Nevertheless John's not outside. He _did_ hear you when you told him what time you'd bring them over right? God, he's probably still inside somewhere.

Still, you lead them up to your house and remove your bright red shoes when you step inside. You need to figure out where John is. 

“Welcome! The living room is _right_ in there. Sit down and feel comfortable I'll be right back!” They probably watch you curiously as you dash up the stairs, but you hear them remove their shoes and go into the living room to wait. Good. 

You rush down the small hallway to open the door to John's room. You see clothing scattered across the floor, his computer on his desktop, closed and unused. Posters on the walls like all the places you've lived, a chest of random stuff he keeps that you never look in. His tv and stack of video games. No John though. He's not in there. You sigh a bit closing it, and move to the right side of the hall to see if he's in your room by any chance. Not that you have any clue what he'd be doing in there, but just to be sure. You see your bed buried in plushies and blankets and all the other soft things you like to have lying there. Various computers around the room, and you see your shelf where various magic books are placed. Still no John. In a very hushed voice you hiss out his name.

“ _John!!_ ”

_Mreow._ You turn to face the source of the sound and you fear to see- _yup_ \- your blue eyed black cat staring at you from the top of the stairs. You sigh deeply and knit your eyebrows in a sad and disappointed expression as you pout.

“Nooooooo.” you whisper to yourself. Damn it! The cat dash towards you and doesn't say anything before you kneel before him.

“Sorry Jade I really tried, but I guess my nerves got the better of me!” He sounds genuinly sorry, and you believe him. You take a deep breath before sighing. You really wanted this to work out, but not this time it seems. 

“I guess there's nothing to do for now, but to try and introduce you guys another day.” You stand up again and walk towards the small staircase before looking back at him. 

“Are you coming down to say hi anyway?” You smile a little to him, encouraging him even though he has to act like a cat. He doesn't answer but instead runs to the stairs and down the steps. Through the years he has certainly learned how to act like a real cat at least. Even though you're disappointed about John having turned into a cat again, then you're still excited for Rose and Dave to visit you. So you jump down from the third step of the stairs, keeping your light blue dress from flying up. 

“Look who I found!” you say proudly as John just casually trips into the living room. You make them notice him, mostly because of Rose and her love for cats after all. You watch John jump onto the windowsill, looking out towards your backyard, gently swining the very tip of his tail. 

“Oh my. He's gorgeous.” Rose says and makes her way towards him, careful not to frighten him. You know that she won't. He looks at he when she gets close though and he doesn't make any move to leave his place just because Rose wants to say hi. However if she starts to pet him too much, you know that John will have enough and leave. She does get to scratch him behind his ears and you hear him purr faintly. That's a thing he just can't help. He even push his head more towards her hand when she tries to pull her hand away, and you bite your tounge to keep from laughing. Some cat instincs of his won't leave him be and you'll make sure to make fun of him for that later!

“Oh, by the way. I got a message from my friend saying that he couldn't make it after all.” Just.. to inform them that, no, John is not going to be here in _person_. 

“Is your friend bailing on us? Wow, rude.” Dave says, sitting comfortably on the couch and you swear that John turns his attention to him. You know that Dave is joking, but you bet that your little pet cat feels both annoyed and guilty about not having been able to keep the curse from getting the best of him. 

“It's a lovely garden you have.” Rose comments and both you and Dave turn your attention to her. Rose is looking out the window to your garden, admirering your work with John watching beside her. You grin widely at her, because her comments make you rather proud and genuinly just happy.

“I know right? I'm so proud of it!” You watch Rose as she moves to the couch to join Dave, elegant in her movements as ever. She sits down with a pretty content looking expression on her face.

“Was it like that when you moved in here?” she asks you just as you sit down in your red chair placed on the other side og the coffee table. You then shake your head.

“No. All the work you see out there? All me!” you proudly puff out your chest at the statement.

“But... You've only lived here for a few weeks? As far as I'm concerned at least and your garden looks like one that has been taken great care of for years already.” You're sure it takes a lot to surprise Rose Lalonde, but she sounds genuinly amazed by this fact. You just smile widely as usual, holding up your hands and wiggeling your fingers.

“I have magical hands!” you laugh. You're not really lying after all. 

“Oh, hold on.” You get up from your comfortable place in your chair and look at your guests. 

“Want anything to drink? Water? Soda? Anything?” Rose and Dave thinks it over and both agree to a can of soda that you know you have in your fridge. On your way out to the kitchen you send John a look, since he's still just sitting in the windowsill observing the three of you. Your kitchen is small but there's plenty of space for just you and your friend, so you don't mind. You quickly find the drinks and hurry back into the living room and hand it over to your blonde friends. 

You didn't really plan for anything today. You expected John to be human so he could get to know them better than he would by just sitting and listening to you guys talking. It's a shame really. But you do find it comfortable just to sit and talk with eachother. You talk about school and what you've been doing in different classes, and you end up talking about some of your favorite things to do. You end up telling them quite a bit about various herbs, maybe a little too much. You hear John meowing from the window, and that he's trying to tell you that Dave and Rose will get bored if you continue for much longer. You then talk to them about music, because a few days ago Dave had suggested that he could mix some music from your bass and Rose's violin. You're pretty sure that John listens closely to this topic, since he likes playing music as well. 

Eventually it seems like John has had enough of sitting so far away. You soon see the slim black cat make it's way up into the sofa, and place himself at the end besides Rose. You swear that you saw Dave get startled in one way or another, and he's staring at the black creature in the couch now or so you think at least. 

“Do you always let your pet stay in the furniture.” He says, almost growling. You guess he's really not that fond of cats huh? Rose just pats his arm and smirks lightly.

“Just because Mutini really doesn't like you, then it doesn't mean that other cats are creatures of Satan. I feel like I have to remind you of that fact.” Dave just crosses his arms a bit and scoff.

“They bite and they scratch and every cat is the same.”

“Stop whining Dave.” 

You can't help but laugh at their bickering. Sometimes you think that Rose and Dave could be siblings.

“Still, could the cat please just.. stay on the floor maybe and far away from me?” 

_Oh no._ You know that look on John's face. Or well, it's hard to see his expression since he's a cat, but you know how he's like. John doesn't exactly get offended easily, but he _does_ like to go against anyone who says anything. And of course the black cat just stands from his position on the couch and just.. slowly walks onto the _coffeetable_ to lie down near Dave's drink. He's looking at Dave with his big blue eyes, and you swear that your blonde friend can't see anything but _rebellion_ in the feline eyes. You have to keep yourself from snickering, because you do find it pretty funny. 

“Jade.” he says. To which you just shrug your shoulders.

“You did take John's place on the couch to begin with.” 

“John?”

“Yeah, the cat.”

“John.. Harley I know you have bad taste and all, but really you named your cat _John_?”

Suddenly Dave jumps up from the couch.

“What the-?!” 

On the table lies one satisfied John Egbert, swinging his tail contently. On the floor is Dave's can of soda and the contents of said can is pretty much spread over the light blondes pants. You quickly stand from your chair.

“John!” the black cat then hurries down from the table and rushes upstairs and you shake your head slightly. You try and imagine how funny that would've looked if John was in human form. Storming to his room like some kid who didn't get his will. And hey, Dave insulted him in a way, but still he shouldn't have done that! Rose is covering her mouth with her hand, obviously holding back her own laughter as Dave goes to the kitchen to wipe the content from the soda can off from his pants. As soon as he's out of sight, you and Rose break into small giggles. 

“It's not funny!” Dave yells from the kitchen and it only makes the two of you laugh even harder. 

“I'm sorry, but it really kind of is!” You keep laughing. You swear you hear Dave silently curse your cat. Like that was necessary, he's already cursed. Not that they are to know that. 

By the time Dave comes back into the living room, your laughter has calmed down and you return to talking peacefully. The boy in the red hoodie is keeping an eye out for unwanted cats once in a while though. John doesn't come down for the rest of the evening. You make a mental note to talk to him when the others have left.

 

Eventually they leave of course, each having their own things they need to attend to before the day ends. You smile and wave at them from your doorway, yelling at them to visit you again next week and they tell you that they will. You want to give John another shot to meet them personally. 

Now speaking of which, where did John go off to? You close your front door and go upstairs to try and figure out where the little shit decided to hide. Like earlier you don't find him his room, but the window is open which means that he probably went outside. Meaning he'll probably come back soon enough, you don't ever really worry about John's whereabouts. He's old enough to handle himself most of the time at least, so you wait for him in your living room. 

An hour later when the sun is just about to set, John comes back. You hear him come through the front door, meaning that he managed to control the curse and go back to human form. 

“You didn't have to spill his drink John.” 

“He insulted me!” he immediately defend himself as he joins you in the living room. His shirt is ruffled, his hair wild, and glasses missing. You know that he's just been fucking around in the town all this time probably.

“But spilling his drink? That's a desperate way of getting attention.” He groans and tells you to shut up, and you just smirk at him in return.

“Still, I think you need a new chance to actually get to talk with them. I've invited them to come back next week-”

“Jade.”

“No buts! Come on John. I know there's been some.. _problems_ earlier on, but hey we learn right? You can do it, you just... need to not panic next time.”

“You make it sound like it's easy.”

“It's probably not at all. I just know that they're nice people and it would be nice if we could all go out and do something, and spend time with eachother, watch a movie or something, you know?” Your smirk grows a little wider.

“Play some music all of us?” you try to prompt. You know John loves his pianoplaying. Or rather keyboard, but still. He sighs a small smile gracing his lips.

“I know.. I know. And I want to, they seem like they're really nice people.. except the obvious cat hate from this Strider dude or whatever.” He crosses his arms. It's natural that he doesn't like people who doesn't like cats.

“Dave is alright, just give him a chance. As soon as you manage to show up _human_.” He playfully hits your shoulder.

“I'll try.. I promise I'll try and keep it going the next time they come over.” he doesn't look convinced that he's able to do it. You believe that he can. He's done so before, his confidence in it has just gone down since the last time you were discovered. Which is a long time ago! He just.. stopped trying to make friends after that, acting like the housepet everytime your past friends came over. 

“Next week alright?” 

“Alright.” 

You stand up to pull him into a hug and he returns it gently. You then retreat to your own room for the night, needing sleep if you have to get up for early classes tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is cliché i am sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuse other than im a lazy fucker and that's why it took years for this chapter to be uploaded. I am sorry. I will do my best to try and upload the next chapter quicker.
> 
> It's been a little while, so if there's mistakes or if something doesn't add up, let me know, ye?  
> Also as said, everything is a cliché.

Your name is Dave Strider and here you are again walking down the streets of the city accompanied by the ever so lovely Rose Lalonde.

Jade managed to convince you both to join her in a movienight today, and since you've grown to like Jade Harley it was hard to say no. So of course neither you or Rose hesitated to say yes to her suggestion. You just hope that her cat will actually behave this time, or stay away god damn it.

It's almost 5pm and you weren't actually supposed to be going until a few hours later, but for some reason you don't really care about, Rose didn't have to go to her last classes giving you some extra time. You're being honest when you say you were bored to the point where it'd be more fun to dig your way down to hell with a teaspoon. Rose couldn't stand your complaints so she dragged you outside, hoping that Jade would be okay with the two of you coming over earlier than planned.

“Send her a message and ask about it, just to be sure, I wouldn't want to interrupt something important.” Rose tells you and you mumble a small complaint about how she could just do that herself, but nevertheless pull your phone from your pocket to message Jade. 

\-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] \--

TG: harley  
TG: ey harley  
TG: come on girl  
TG: dont leave a dude hanging  
GG: oh hello dave!  
TG: finally  
TG: i have important matters to discuss with you so sit tight  
GG: so demanding! whats up?  
TG: so rose got off earlier or some shit dont ask me about details cause i dont fucking know nor care  
TG: anyway we had freetime and we figured that we might as well drag our asses to your place now  
TG: hows that  
GG: you mean that youre already on your way?  
GG: but im not home yet, im out buying things for tonight!! :(  
TG: well just camp outside your house its cool  
GG: no!  
GG: dont do that, that would suck!  
GG: uhmm..  
GG: gimme a minute..  
TG: come on harley or lalonde and i will have to set up a camp or something  
GG: oh shut up!

Rose gives you a questioning look. “Well? What did she say?”

“She says she's out, but we should hold our horses a god damn second so she can figure something out.” you say as the two of you keep moving at a comfortably slow pace while you wait for Jade to get back to you. A soft _pling_ goes off from your phone a few minutes after. 

GG: okay, so my door is actually open, you can just go inside and wait for me okay?  
GG: ill be there before you even know it!!  
GG: i just need to get these things first  
TG: cool ill see you soon then

\-- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG]\--

“She told us to just go to her place and wait for her inside, apparently she's the type to leave her door open, fucking amazing.” you shove your phone back into the pocket of your black jeans, before rolling up the sleeves of your dark red shirt. 

“That's what we will do then I assume.” Rose replies back. Well how bad could it be, Jade is your friend and it's not like someone else is going to be there. 

__ 

_“Fuck.”_

You hiss the word under your breath before you even know it and earn an unamused glare from a mother with her small child just right beside you. You try to give her a small apologetic smile, before looking right back to your phone again. 

Your name is Jade Harley and you might have a little bit of a problem here. 

Dave and Rose are on their way to your place and someone else is there. You didn't tell your blonde friends that John was going to be there, just in case that he'd end up turning into a cat again. If he could manage to keep his human form until they arrived, you would've just introduced them, but they don't know about John, and you're _here_ and John's at _home_ not knowing that _they're_ on their way. God damn it! After Dave had texted you, you spent a few minutes thinking over what to do. 

You could just have told them not to come yet, because you weren't home, but you didn't have the heart to do such a thing! They were already on their way, no use turning them back _now_. What worries you is John. He's probably not prepared for this _at all_. You look at your phone and hopehope _hope_ that John will see his pesterlog soon enough! 

It's now or never John. Better keep your humanform or turn into a cat while you have the chance. 

\-- gardengnostic [GG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] \--

GG: john  
GG: listen up, dave and rose are on their way to our place like right NOW!!  
GG: i hope youre ready for this!  
GG: i know you can do it

You sigh deeply and put your phone back down, hoping and crossing your fingers that your message will reach John, because who knows.. Dave and Rose could be at your door anytime now. 

__

Your name is John Egbert and as far as you're concerned, there's still a couple of hours left before Dave and Rose are supposed to get here. That means there's some time for you to just lie down on the couch and relax a little before their arrival. It's needed if you're going to be calm enough to keep your human form. You don't really get why it's so difficult for you to keep your cat form in front of these people. You're doing perfectly fine in public. Most of the time at least. Once in a while you've felt a little anxious, causing you to flee from whatever place you were at, but those are rare occasions thankfully. You guess that your current problem is because they're Jade's friends and that means a lot to her and therefore you just really don't want to screw it up. 

You sigh and rub your face with your hands, willing yourself to stop these thoughts. It's what made you freak out last week after all and you don't want it to happen again. Deep breaths John. 

You feel tired and you haven't even done anything but think of what's going to happen tonight. You try to take a look around the living room, trying to find anything that can make you think of something else. The curtains in front of the windows are boring and doesn't really do the trick, and wow that chair Jade always sits in is definitly interesting!

No, nothing works. Your gaze goes to the computer on the coffee table beside you. It's turned on and is open on the last webpage you were fooling around on an hour ago or so. It's not actually your computer, but Jade's. Not that it really matters because you're the only one using it. Jade has this weird thing about having 20 computers lying around the house, just in case that one of the others should break and she needed a backup. So she doesn't mind you keeping that one computer to yourself. You're greateful for that, it means that you don't have to go and spend money to buy one yourself.

For a second you just lie there considering to get up and spend some more hours staring at pointless websites and videos on youtube or something, just to make time pass. You decide against it and shut your eyes instead, leaving your glasses on the coffee table because to be honest you'd rather want to sleep and hopefully get some rest before the guests arrive. 

However you barely reach to fall asleep before you hear the front door opening. You groan a bit and sit up on the couch preparing for Jade to come running in with bags of chips and dip and soda and whatever the hell she has brought home for tonight. You don't really complain about what she has bought, you complain about how she makes you help with all the bags when she gets home. She has a habit of buying more than necessary. 

“Hold on I'm coming out to help.” You call from your place on the couch. You might as well tell her immediately before she calls for you herself. You get up from the couch and go into the hallway, stopping dead in your tracks when you see who just got in the door. 

Because it's definitly not Jade staring back at you from the entrance. 

It's Dave and Rose, _it's Dave and Rose!_ What are they doing here _now_?! They weren't supposed to get here yet! And where's Jade? Why are they here when she's not even home? What's happening?! Shit, you're trying really hard not to let the panic take over. You're surprised that you haven't even turned from the pure shock you got that it wasn't who you expected it to be. 

“Uhhh..” You hear Dave start, trying to find words because you're pretty sure they didn't expect you to be here either.

Alright John this is it, you damned well better keep your human form or else Jade will most likely be exposed as a witch. It's not everyday you'd see someone randomly shift into a catform right? You take a deep breath and try to push your panic down, thinking about how sad Jade would be if you had to move from this place already after only a few weeks. 

“D-” you're just about to say their names when you remember that they don't know who you are. They haven't met you, or at least that's what they think. Fix it. 

“Who are you?” Nailed it. 

“I'm sorry to intrude, uh, I'm Rose Lalonde and this is Dave Strider.” Rose says a little surprised by your presence and the other blonde nods at you, and you're still holding your breath hoping that they can't see how nervous you are. 

“We're friends of Jade.” And at this you crack a smile. You have to act naturally, just calm down. You're the pranking master John, you can keep your calm in every situation!

Kinda. 

“Oh, of course! Jade's friends. I should have known. She's not here at the moment.” 

“We know.” Dave answers, hands in the pockets of his pants looking casual as you think he always does. “She said the door was open.” Why didn't she tell you that they were on their way?! God damn it Jade.

“Now if you don't mind me asking, who are you?” They're both looking at you, waiting for your answer and god don't fuck this up.

“I'm..” Oh for fuck's sake John, don't hesitate now that's the stupidest thing you could do! Fuck, don't panic, just say something!

“I'm Jade's brother.” 

Why did you say that? 

Fuck no, not cool, why didn't you just say you were her friend too, fuck, fuck, fuck. You feel like running off, shifting and then just spend the rest of your days as a cat permanently, honestly what kind of fuck up was _that_?? Please don't notice you're lying, pleaseplease. 

“Huh, Jade didn't tell us she had a brother?” Dave says looking at Rose.

What in the world made you think this was a good idea? God fucking damn it. Okay. This is.... This is a prank. Yes! A prank. Perfect. You're the pranking master and this is your prank, you're convincing them that you're Jade's brother. Thank god that you look pretty much alike, except that Jade's hair is brown and her skin is a little darker, and your hair is black and skin a tad lighter. But you have the same overbite, as much as you hate to admit it, and you both wear glasses plus you're almost the same height with you being just a few inches taller. This can totally work. Yup, you're Jade's brother!

“What's your name?” Rose says with the same polite smile on her face as the one you saw last week. Okay, easy John. You know they're good persons, except you're still a little butthurt over the way Dave treated you but that doesn't matter right now. 

“John Eg- beert Harley.” Nice John. You hope they didn't notice the way you paused when saying your “middle name”. You choose to just go along with it and quickly change subject.

“Jade is probably home soon enough, you can just wait in the living room yeah?”

“That sounds lovely, thanks John.” Rose smiles at you and moves to the living room with Dave following behind.

“It's funny that you have the same name as her cat.” Dave notes and _fucking_ you hadn't thought of that really. 

“Yeah isn't it cute, when Jade moved she missed me so much that she just had to name her cat after me.” You're on a roll here. At least you hope. God damn it, this is the lamest lie you've ever told but you think it might work. Speaking of lies, you better tell Jade about this because if Jade tells them the truth they'll probably think you're really crazy for lying about this. You want to befriend them not make them think that you're a weirdo or something. You hurry as much as you can to sit down that the computer on the coffee table to message Jade. To your surprise there's already messages waiting for you on pesterchum. 

\-- gardengnostic [GG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] \--

GG: john  
GG: listen up, dave and rose are on their way to our place like right NOW!!  
GG: i hope youre ready for this!  
GG: i know you can do it

Oh my god, you hadn't noticed this at all! God damn it, you're fucking up here. As Dave and Rose both sit down you start typing out something to her. 

“So you're here to visit your sister?” Rose asks you as you type and you hum a bit in response. 

“Yeah, I'm going to stay here for a while.” 

EB: hey jade, i have some news for you.  
GG: what is it???  
EB: apparently we're siblings now.  
GG: ...  
GG: john what did you do? 

“Have you been here long John?” you turn to look at Rose for a short while before smiling friendly at her. At least it's not awkward silence, but you can still feel your heart beat violently inside your chest, and you fear that you'd turn anytime now. Just force the curse to stay low John. Force it. 

“I arrived yesterday. I'm sure Jade has been too busy to even mention me then?” you look back to the screen on the computer to continue the conversation you're having with Jade.

EB: i didn't get your messages in time!  
EB: and suddenly dave and rose were standing in our hallway.  
EB: i panicked okay?!  
EB: i panicked and told them i was your brother!  
GG: oh john  
GG: but at least you havent shifted and thats good!!  
EB: yeah, but hurry back i'm freaking out here, what if i fuck up?!  
GG: calm down john and tell me what youve told them

You proceed to pester Jade about your little lie while trying to keep up a conversation with your two blonde guests.

”Jade hasn't said shit about having a brother.” 

”Language Dave.” 

You wince a little because, yeah this was a really horrible plan. You'll play it off as a prank later, if everything goes shit. Or maybe you should just play it off as a prank right now and just tell the truth. Oh my god. You're the fool, the president of the dumbass state. 

”I'm hurt. Jade is going to pay for that when she gets back.”

They don't know that you're communicating with Jade right now. She told you that you guys should stick with the whole “brother” thing, and then play it off later because she didn't want you to feel more stupid than you already do. Which is probably a good plan seeing as you'd probably transform from pure embarrassment. God, you're surprised you've lasted this long. One last message from her tells you that she's almost home. 

You close the laptop after Jade logs off pesterchum, and it leaves you in silence with Dave and Rose which makes you feel pretty uncomfortable. You have so many worries and so many thoughts about what could go wrong. What if they don't even like you? 

Just as Rose seems to clear her throat to break the silence, you hear the front door slam open. 

“I'm here! Rose, Dave?” She calls from the hallway. You mentally sigh in relief and watch Jade as she steps into the living room. 

“Oh. I see you've met my brother!” she's smiling widely, putting on the act that you both agreed to over your conversation. You'd be lying if you said that your heart wasn't threatening to burst through your chest. 

“Indeed we have, I must admit that I was quite surprised.” Jade rushes towards Rose, hugging her from the side. 

“That was the point! I wanted to introduce you guys tonight, but you handled that yourself pretty well.” She laughs then places her bags in the arms of Dave, and you bite your lip to hide your amusement at his confused face. 

“Here! Doritos and all we could need for this movie night!” As soon as the sentence leaves Jade's lips, Dave is in the bag digging through the mentioned supplies for tonight.

“Sweet.” 

You admit that you start feeling sort of invisible as soon as Jade takes over and you're sure that's a good thing, but you can't help but feeling a little.. disappointed either. It's not like you _want_ to be ignored. You'd like to have friends for once in many years. You love Jade, but you also miss just being able to spend time with others. You haven't really been able to do that much since you were cursed. 

“John, why don't you show Rose and Dave where the movies are while I set the whole thing up? You guys can choose what we watch first!” Jade says, already on her way to the kitchen. In reality you know it wasn't even a question, not when it comes from Jade. You take a deep breath before getting up from the couch, and you give the blonde guests a strained smile. 

“This way.” You quickly make your way to the shelf at the far back of your living room, kneeling down with your back turned against them. You barely dare letting them see your face, worried they'll notice how nervous you really are. 

You listen to them as they start talking about what movie you should watch and Rose suggests some really good ones. Dave keeps shooting them down. Which offends you quite a lot, because all of these movies are yours actually. You're still a little butt hurt from last time he was over too, like, _who doesn't like cats?_

A lot of people don't, but that's not the point. 

“Are these yours or Harley's?” 

“Most of them is my collection actually.” You answer as Dave hums a little to your reply. 

“Some of these movies are insanely old, like christ, I don't even think some of these can be bought anymore.” he's joking, but if he knew that you got those movies many years ago, then he probably wouldn't. 

In the end Rose pulls out a disney movie and none of you feel like objecting to that decision. 

The three of you go back to the couch to see that Jade has put out snacks and drinks and whatever you could ask for when watching a movie. You take the honor of putting the movie on, while the others sit down. Jade sits in her chair, so you sit on the couch with your two guests. More importantly, you're sitting next to the man that seems to insult you more than you'd like and you're not fond of that fact. You're even less fond of the fact that being this close you notice that he's sort of attractive.

He's _really_ attaractive but you're going to be a child this time and not admit it to yourself. You take a deep breath as the movie starts and you just can't seem to relax and be comfortable. There's this constant tension threatening to fuck you over hard anytime. 

The others seem to have no problem just chatting once in a while but you try to keep your focus on the movie. If you concentrate about that you should be fine. God, you should just calm down.

“Sup man, you seem a little jittery.” You hear Dave murmur beside you, and you turn your head to see him leaning a little towards you. The girls are talking about something themselves but you don't know what it is.

“Are you alright?” 

Huh. You had hoped that no one would notice. Jade probably already knew that you'd be a little nervous seeing as this whole situation turned out to be sort of unexpected. But it's.. actually nice of him to ask. That somehow makes the tension you feel go down a bit. 

“Uhm, yeah I'm fine.” You smile at him and you're not sure if he buys it but he doesn't press the matter. Maybe you overreacted last week. He's probably not such a huge asshole as you thought he'd be. Maybe you can make this work. You haven't had the complete urge to transform into a cat today after all. Maybe after some time you'll be able to be around these guys without being nervous at all! Without having to be concerned with your.. _problem_. 

With these thoughts in mind you manage to relax a little more, and smile genuinly while Jade tells a funny story she experienced a long time ago. You also take this time to notice that Rose always seems to be calm and collected with a delicate smile on her lips, yet with this mysterious aura that makes her seem like she knows everything you're thinking. You hope not. Dave doesn't show a lot of emotions. Or maybe he does but just not for you then. You still don't know why he wears those shades constantly but you all have your secrets, right? 

The movie is more like background noise while you guys share stories about pretty much anything. You even start to contribute to the conversation and you find yourself laughing along with the others whenever Dave tells a joke that is so bad it can only be laughed at. Jade tells them about things the two of you have experienced together, and you tell them embarrasing stories about Jade. Rose contributes with embarrasing stories about Dave, and she seems to have many more of those than he wants her to have. You're content enough to say that you're completely relaxed for the first time this evening. 

You actually hit it off pretty well with these guys by the end of the evening. You admit that even Dave Strider, the cat hater, isn't as bad as you originally thought he were. _Probably._

You and Jade say goodbye to them in the hallway, and Jade tells them that she'll probably see them tomorrow. You smile, shake their hand and tell them it was nice to meet them. Rose says that she hopes to see you again and the smirk on her black painted lips leaves you sort of uneasy. You just get the feeling that _she knows_. 

As soon as they're gone, Jade almost tackles you to the floor.

“You did it John! You kept calm!” You laugh a little as you hug her.

“Sort of. I mean.. I managed!”

“And that's good enough for now.” She pats your cheek and you swat at her hand only to hear her bright laughter fill the room.

“If you get comfortable enough around them, maybe you won't have to worry about the curse anymore.” 

You shrug a little as your only response. You admit that you'd like that a lot. But you're not sure if you can handle it, but you're sure as hell going to try. 

“Now we just need to tell them that you're not actually my brother!” Oh no. You cover your eyes with your hands and groan at her statement.

“I panicked, and if we tell them that I'm not actually your brother, they're just going to think that I'm hella weird! And they'd probably wonder why you played along.” She nods and puts her hand on your shoulder in what you assume is to be comforting. 

“We'll figure this out okay? Try not to worry about it for now.” 

You're fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> coding pesterlogs sucks


End file.
